1666 was "to be the new Assassin's Creed," says Désilets

1666, the suspended new project from Assassin's Creed creative director Patrice Désilets, was intended to be on the same scale as Ubisoft's annual franchise.

Désilets spent more than a year working on the game before he left Ubisoft in May, and before that at THQ. "[1666] was to be the new Assassin's Creed," said Désilets to GameReactor Spain (translation via GameRanx) during the GamesLab conference in Barcelona last month. "The first year was to build the team, to study [the historical era], but also to create a new IP."

The IP rights for 1666 are currently being fought for by Désilets. "I'm sorry guys, it was amazing. And it still is amazing, and I hope to get it back and finish it for you - and for me," he said.

Speaking about how 1666 would play, Désilets said it would have been something different. "It was not easy because I was a little guy jumping around with a sword, and [we] were making a shooter. We were trying something different, to expand borders again."

He also said the game would take place in Amsterdam and be connected to the painter Rembrandt. "Here's the only clue [I'll give]. Rembrandt was still alive in 1666, died in 1669."

Désilets said he took one of Rembrandt's most famous paintings, The Philosopher in Meditation, and embedded it into the design document for the game.